The Challenge Factory discussion
♦SS Archives♦
>
R12: SS Team 8 - Reading Eight Days A Week
message 51:
by
Maddie
(new)
Sep 25, 2020 09:18PM
Hmmmm I gotta think about the ones I wanna read XD I'll pick a little later on
reply
|
flag
I just picked up book 14 in the Hannah Swensen series from the library so I'll read that. Great timing.
Mod
Loriidae wrote: "As I have 41 unfinished series, I will find a #4, either Edged Blade or Tracking Shadows"Only 41 series? We need to work on you a bit more, Lorii ;)
I have 384 series started but not finished and yet for this game I decided to start a new series to go for the bonus point. I think I have an addiction. :)
Mod
Spot: 14
Book: A Ferry of Bones & Gold by Hailey Turner
Qualification: Soulbound #1
Pages: 406
Finished: 26 Sep 2020
Rating: ★★★★
Review:
Hailey Turner does Urban Fantasy, gods, mages, shifters, vampires and all? Hell yes, I'm so here for that! This series went straight to my TBR the second I found out it exists. I love her Metahuman Files series (which I have yet to finish... so many books, so little time), but I do believe I might enjoy this one even more. Love the world so far, fascinating magic and interplay between magic users and other fascinating beings populating this universe, and I do have a particular soft spot for anything involving Greek mythology. The protagonists, both individually and as a couple, are wonderfully complex, flawed enough to be interesting but not so much so as to make them unlikable. The romance or the UF plot alone would have been enough to get me hooked on this series, the excellent combination of both pretty much ensures I'll be back for more ASAP.
Sam wrote: "Loriidae wrote: "As I have 41 unfinished series, I will find a #4, either Edged Blade or Tracking Shadows"Only 41 series? We need to work on you a bit more, Lorii ..."
I'm something similar as well! I've got like 200 or something.
Week 2 (Spot 14) Selection
Pages: 396
Qualification: #1
Completion post: week 2 ** Spot 14The Princess Companion: A Retelling of The Princess and the Pea by Melanie Cellier
Read 9/27
Qualification: 1st in a series -- Four Kingdoms
Pages: 334
Stars: 4
Review: I really enjoyed this re-telling of the Princess and the Pea. Its filled with great characters, both heroes and villains. Alyssa is a great character you will live and Prince Max is exactly what he should be. Princesses Lilly and Sophia are adorable and the end is exactly what I wanted. Great, happy book!!
Completion Post: Week 2 - Spot 14
Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke
Qualification: Hannah Swensen #14
Read: 9/28/20
Rating: ★★★
Review: This series is not very good but I keep reading them anyway because they're a lot of fun in their simplicity. I don't like or care about any of the characters, the love triangle has more than worn out it's welcome at this point and I always figure out who the killer is way before the reveal. Yet, they are addicting to read. I did appreciate that this one wasn't really about the murder and more about the characters and their relationships. I can tell the author was more focused on developing Hannah's character which I appreciated. The murder was an afterthought but this is definitely one of the better books in the series even if it still does leave a lot to be desired.
Completion postSpot: 14
Book: Evans Above- Rhys Bowen
Qualification: Constable Evans #1
Date read: 9/29/20
Rating: 4 stars
Review: Evan Evans is a local constable for a small town in Wales. When two bodies are found dead on the nearby mountain, it is first thought that they were killed in a climbing accident. But once Constable Evans discovered that they knew each other and that a friend of theirs had died on that same mountain 6 years previously, he became suspicious. When the head office was too busy on another murder to be interested in his suspicions, he decided to investigate on his own. I enjoyed this mystery. I like murders in small villages/towns for some reason and it was nice that the main character was actually a police officer solving the crime instead of an amateur. We learned a bit about Evans' past and what brought him to the small town. Poor Evan is being chased by multiple girls in the village, despite his own preferences. I did not guess the killer correctly or the motive, which is a bit unusual for me (usually I get one if not the other). I look forward to continuing this series.
Completion Post Spot: #14
Book: Edged Blade
Author: J.C. Daniels
Pages: 327
Spot: #14
How it fits: #4 (Kit Colbana)
Review:
The world of Kit Colbana, combines a strong warrior heroine, with cat and wolf shifters, earth witches and warrior witches. A very good mystery of disappearing paranormals. There was some progression along the major story arcs and the slow burn romance of the main couple.
Date Read: Sep 30 ★★★★✰
Week Two (Spot 14) Completion
Pages: 280
Date read: 30/9/2020
Rating: 4 stars
How it fits: #1
Review: This one was really awesome! I've read it once before but couldn't remember a thing. Wish I'd discovered this when I was a kid, would have enjoyed it even more. I loved the dual POV, the interactions between the two, as well as their relationship, and how (view spoiler) It's much more realistic. I love how Artemis is the 'villain' of the story. Seeing how his genius mind worked. And feeling very sad for him when (view spoiler) I liked Holly's (view spoiler) Wonder how they'll meet up next.
oh sorry, 4 stars! will edit when I get back to my computer tomorrow
Excellent job, team! We earned our free pass this week.
Crappy roll. Sorry.Rolled a 3.
This puts on on space 17.
Can read standalone, #1, #7, or #17
Alternate: Four or More Words in the Title (excluding articles like A, An, The)
Ooosh not a #2 in series yet then. Bugger XD That mucks up my plans.#1 it is then!
Week 3 (Spot 17) Selection
Pages: 494
How it fits: #1
Denise wrote: "Reading A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians, it'll get us the 500+ pages bonus point."Yay Denise!!
Silly question but I need a bit of clarity. So for the alternate task does that book have to be part of a series or can it be a stand alone?
Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) wrote: "Silly question but I need a bit of clarity. So for the alternate task does that book have to be part of a series or can it be a stand alone?"Alternate task can be standalone. As long as it fits the specified task.
Sam wrote: "Alternate task can be standalone. As long as it fits the specified task."Awesome! Thanks, Sam. I was hoping so because I'm trynna use one book for this challenge and another one.
Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) wrote: "Sam wrote: "Alternate task can be standalone. As long as it fits the specified task."Awesome! Thanks, Sam. I was hoping so because I'm trynna use one book for this challenge and another one."
Don't forget, you can use standalone for 1, so you can do a standalone for this week's roll without it having to fit alternate task.
Completion Post: Week 3 - Spot 17
The Taming of Jessi Rose by Beverly Jenkins
Qualification: Standalone
Read: 10/3/20
Rating: ★★★★
Review: I don’t know which character I loved more, Jessi or Griffin. They both are so fantastic and such interesting characters. They both go through really great development without losing themselves. Their romance was wonderful and develops at a great pace. Jessi pushes him away even though they are both feeling the chemistry and Griffin is determined to win her heart.
Jessi is very headstrong and I loved that she was raising her young nephew, Joth, and their relationship. Her personality is prickly but I adored her so much. She took no mess from anyone. Griffin is a former train robber and outlaw and he is insanely charming. He’s protective over the ones he cares about and I loved how quickly he and Joth took to each other. I thought their friendship was so adorable. Another thing I appreciate about Jessi and Griffin’s relationship is that they talked through things (except for one instance when Griffin leaves but he had every right to be upset) and they respected each other so much.
My one complaint is that I felt that this book was a bit bloated with the side characters. They’re way too many of them to the point it became a chore to keep track of who was who and who did what. I liked some of the side characters (particularly the adorable Joth, some of the people in town and Griffin’s friends) but there was too many and a lot of them had too much going on. Other than that, this was great and I loved the ending.
Mod
Spot: 17
Book: A Declaration of the Rights of Magicians by H.G. Parry
Qualification: The Shadow Histories #1
Pages: 544
Finished: 04 Oct 2020
Rating: ★★★★★
Review:
The title's allusion to the French Revolution with a side of magic is what first piqued my interest in this book, but its scope is really so much wider. Skillfully blending 18th century history ranging from England and France to the Caribbean with fantasy fiction, Parry creates a compelling vision of a fascinating era, made newly fascinating in a different way by infusing it with a cleverly developed system of magic that drives historical figures and developments. Loved this from start to finish and can't wait for the sequel! Why is it not July 2021 yet?!
*Bonus point: 500+ pages
Completion postSpot: 17
Book: Monster Hunting 101: A LitRPG Fantasy Adventure- Andrew Karevik
Qualification: Titan Termination #1
Date read: 10/4/20
Rating: 3 stars
Review: Monsters land on Earth and humans have taken to living underground and scavenging for what they need. Avery is a nurse but when all the scavengers in her little village are dead, she decides to go to the surface to look for food. She encounters a monster and by luck, she is able to injure it. This gives her bloodpoints, which allows her to become stronger and hunt the monsters. This book is an LitRPG; that is, a novel set up like a role playing game. I have found myself interested in this new genre of books, probably because I've always wanted to play an RPG but never have. I didn't enjoy this one as much as the others I've read and I think it's because she does everything solo. She is now the only person in her village who is able to earn bloodpoints and her village elder wants her to keep it secret. She spends most of her time in a private workspace, reading books and brewing potions or up on the surface fighting monsters. The other LitRPG that I have read involve groups of people earning skills and working together for a common goal. That said, the end of the book shows her opening up a lodge to train more people to use the bloodpoints, so I'm hoping I will like the next book better. I will be continuing this series, at least for now.
Completion Post Spot: #17
Book: The Diamond Throne
Author: David Eddings
Pages: 435
Spot: #17
How it fits: #1 The Elenium
Date Read: Oct 6 ★★★★✰
Review: Sparkhawk, the queen's champion returns home from 10 years of exile to find his queen has been placed in a magical stasis to prevent her succumbing to an unknown illness. Thus begins an old fashioned quest fantasy to find a cure. It has all the traditional elements, a champion knight from each nation working together against a common evil, a mentor and an unknown character who promises to be either hero or villain. Twelve knights were linked to enable the stasis which claims the life of a knight every 28 days, providing drama and urgency to the plot. Written in 1990, it lacks the darkness and horror of the many more modern fantasies.
Week 3 (Spot 17) Selection Edit
Pages: 250
How it fits: #1
Week 3 (Spot 17) Completion
Pages: 250
How it fits: #1
Date read: 7/10/20
Rating: 4.5 stars
Review: 4.5 stars but rounded up for the sake of GR
This book tugged my heartstrings sooo hard. And I loved the resolution of this! How her mother pulled through with the life lesson. And the mature way they both handled all of the things, because given the situations he dumped her into, she did very well!
Patti, you have 24 hours to get your review in so we can roll. After 48 hours, we can't roll this week.
I hope we can roll! I've got #2's in series to get to XDDo we roll 1 or 2 dice? It's 2 for this one, right?
Mod
We do have the free pass we can use to roll in case Patti doesn't make it, but there's still plenty of time.
Completion post: Sorry I thought I had to get to in by Friday!!Week 3 Spot 17
Book: Butterscotch Dream Killer by Summer Prescott
Read 10/8
Qualification: 7th in series
Stars 3
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
No worries, you're good! Friday 11:59pm at the latest, so there was still lots of time left. Now we can roll as early as possible though, which is always good. :)
Yeah for now I'm able to keep up, but I start working again on the 19th so my time for reading will be less
Denise wrote: "Maddielucy(Patti) wrote: "Completion post: Sorry I thought I had to get to in by Friday!!"No worries, you're good! Friday 11:59pm at the latest, so there was still lots of time left. Now we can r..."
THanks, Denise! I was pretty sure I had until tonight, but when I saw the posts about not being able to roll, I got confused!! :)
Week 4 roll is 7, putting us on space 24Can read #2, #4, #24 in series.
Alternate is a predominately white cover.
Week 4 (Spot 24) Selection
Pages: 369
How it fits: #2
Mod
Spot: 24
Book: All Souls Near & Nigh by Hailey Turner
Qualification: Soulbound #2
Pages: 364
Selection Post: Week 4 - Spot 24
Book: Coming to a Crossroads by Marie Ferrarella
Qualification: Matchmaking Mamas #24
Pages: 288
The Challenge Factory
Books mentioned in this topic
Rum Runner (other topics)Rum Runner (other topics)
By a Spider's Thread (other topics)
Deliverance (other topics)
Evan's Gate (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
J.A. Konrath (other topics)J.A. Konrath (other topics)
Sarah MacLean (other topics)
Laura Joh Rowland (other topics)
Pippa DaCosta (other topics)
More...
